At CapTech, we believe the 12 Agile Principles from the Agile Manifesto are building blocks for a successful, sustainable Agile journey. Many pitfalls that organizations experience are due to oversight and lack of adherence to the Agile Principles. In this CapTech blog series, we will review the 12 Agile Principles, common issues that lead organizations astray, and solutions to get back on course throughout any Agile journey.

Agile Principle #7: Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

Using screenshots, diagrams, or videos instead of showing true working software.

Not having the necessary skillsets to provide full end-to-end solutions.

Practicing "ScrumFall" - doing each part of the Waterfall lifecycle across Sprints/Iterations instead of within Sprints/Iterations.

Too many dependencies on other teams or external sources that prevent working solutions.

Focusing too much on metrics as the primary measure of progress.

Solutions that Lead Organizations Back on Course

Go live! When possible, use live demos in an environment that could be accessible to the Customer.

Perform a skill-set analysis and make sure the team has all the skills necessary to provide an end-to-end solution. If not, add someone who does or use this as a training opportunity.

Focus on incremental progress by creating User Stories that don't exceed the Sprint/Iteration timebox and leverage the INVEST User Story format.

Eliminate dependencies where appropriate and ensure teams have identified or mitigated as much risk as possible.

Metrics help with decision making but working solutions that solve Customers' problems should be the primary measure of progress.